"There are no compromises." -Once a runner

back filling this calendar for my full PCT training cycle. My actual first post is october 1rst

am: 3

pm: 3

am: 3

pm: 3

am: 3

pm: 3

am: 4.5

pm: 4.5

am: 4.5

pm: 4.5

am: 4.5

pm: 4.5

am: 4.5

pm: 4.5

am: 4.5

pm: 4.5

am: 4.5

pm: camping

4 mile hike

am: 4.5

pm: 4.5

am: 5.5

pm: 5.5

am: 5.5

pm: 5.5

am: 5.5

pm: flew to DC, checked in and ran 5.5 on treadmill, never again i say every time i run on a treadmill

am: 5.5

pm: 5.5

am: 5.5

pm: 4.5 then got on a plane to London

am: 6 mile hike around london with my luggage waiting for my hotel room to be available

nap, slept through my matinee play

pm: 5.5 along the thames

am: 5.5

pm: 7, went further than planned but london was beautiful and i was feeling good

am: 5.5

train to cambridge, taxi to hinxton for my conference

pm: 4.5, no side walks, no street lamps made for a bad run

am: 5.5 found better route

pm: 5.5

am: missed run, woke up too late

pm: 5.5

am: 5.5

taxi to cambridge, hiked around cambridge for at least 4 miles with luggage

train to london and taxi to airport hotel

pm: 6 (went further than expected)

am: 6

flight back to san francisco, taxi back to pleasanton

pm: 6

am: 8 miles on the dipsea trail. super hilly, many hundreds of stairs... hot

am: 6 sore

pm: 6 sore, slow

am: 6

pm: 6, still sore

am: 6

pm: 6 still a tad sore

am: 3

pm: 9 pleasanton ridge run. did okay i guess

am: 6 recovery

pm: 6 feeling better

am: 6

pm: toooooooo tired. listening to my body and not running

Nobody here knows me, but I feel like I should say something coming back to this after several years off of this site. I have been running off and on in that time, sometimes seriously, more often not. Last time I was on this site I think I weighed 164lb or so. My minimum weight and weight of my fastest half marathon -- 1:18:45 (6min pace) I weighed 152-154lb. Right now I weigh 184... And at one point in the past 2 years I have weighed somewhere in teh 200-205 range... So that is a problem.

I made myself a promise as I crossed the finish line in that half marathon 7 years ago. I said "this is not the fittest I will be in my life." So far that was the fittest I have ever been. But I am 31 years old so I still have some time. But not TOOO much time either. So I must act. On top of that I now finally have a life plan that should allow me to keep my promise. I plan on hiking the pacific crest trail in in 2017 from april through august and possibly a bit of september. That is 2650miles in 5 months. Many people start out in only decent shape and let the trail get them into top shape. That is not how I operate. I hope to be in awesome shape to start the trail and even better shape when I finish. So for about a month now I have been doubling again.

Currently I am focused on getting in the miles and am not doing much in the way of speed work. And I am not focusing on my weight at this point and will see what a few months of 80mile weeks does for me. When I reach a point that 80 mile weeks are not a struggle, I might try to impose a bit more of a calorie deficite to speed up that process. But right now I am thinking that if I can start the trail at 165-170lb then the trail will take off another 20ish pounds. And 14-19lbs lost is not a ton to do over a 6 month training period given my starting point.

Okay. Now on to the training log.

6 miles in the am. Felt much better after taking a half day off yesterday.

7 miles in the pm with brendan. Ran along a beautiful resovior with some serious rock formations. We went a mile longer than planned just by accident. Definitely went faster than planned as well. I think brendan and I both are used to running about a shoulder ahead of the other person and so we each think that the other person is pushing the pace when the reality is that we are both just trying to "keep up" with the other one lol. Can't do this too often without it coming back to bite me, but now that brendan lives 45minutes away I doubt we will be running together more than once a week or so.
 

6 in the am. still feeling good

6 in the pm. excessive heart burn and saliva production. Annoying. Other than that the run was very floaty which is nice.

Many people may consider my doubles as not optimal in that they would rather do one shorter and one longer run. 4 and 8 is a good setup. And I agree. If I were anywhere close to my race weight and could handle that program I would do that. But as it is I think that a completely even double maximizes the number of miles that my body can handle and that increases my base as well as the number of calories I burn which will hopefully decrease my weight over time.

6 in the am: doing these doubles during the work week is much more challenging because it makes me tired and makes it harder to concentrate during the work day. This is another reason that 4 and 8 might be a better setup. I might try that out at some point.

6 in the pm: felt pretty good. floaty. 5 min gentle stretching before and after. My left IT band is waaay less flexible than my right. gonna make an effort over they next few months to fix that.

6 in the am: started off sluggish. went slow. finished a bit faster but still probably like 8:30 pace so still pretty slow. 5min stretching before and after

throughout the day i just felt suuuper tired despite getting 9 hours of sleep last night. And I kept feeling like I was either thirsty or hungry and I couldnt decide which. Eating and drinking only made this somewhat better lol. So I decided to listen to my body and take the half day off. Tomorrow is the ridge in the evening with matt and jaffe which is always hard.

6 in the am. Felt very good. Went a bit too fast probably. Ridge tonight. Would normally do 3 the morning before the ridge, but since I took yesterday evening off I decided to do my full 6.

9 in the pm on the ridge. 1500ft of elevation. This run always destroys me for the evening. Felt pretty good on the way up, but about halfway down and I was a zombie. But my zombie gait is pretty smooth right now lol.

AM: 6mi active recovery, slow. Nothing hurts, just tired.

PM: 6mi.... bad.... missed breakfast and lunch just didn't do it. Calorie deficient run. Felt bad.

am: 6. sluggish. probably just the sustained milage

pm: 6. 

am: rest

pm: 5 miles

am: 5mi, start of down week probably 65-70miles

pm: 5

am: 5. Beyond sluggish. Started a ketogenic diet on saturday and it is really hitting me now. Ive heard people adapt over a few weeks and regain VO2max but right now its baaaad.

pm: had a social obligation, couldnt run :(

am: 5. feeling better but still sluggish. Eventually you are supposed to get back to normal exercise on a keto diet... we will see

pm: 5. slightly better again, but still bad

am: 5

pm: dear future self, i skipped the run and went out drinking. im so sorry. dont be me

am: missed run becuase i woke up late and had to get to work for a meeting

pm: 5

am: 5

am: 5

pm: 5

ankle is a bit tweaked.

am: 5.25

pm: 5

ankle still a problem. I think I have isolated it to a single pair of running shoes. Am going to ibuprofen antiinflammatory dose for a few days while avoiding those shoes and hopefully it goes away.

am: 5 feeling better

pm: 5 feeling great. ankle is completely better and finally feeling fast again since i started the ketogenic diet

am: 5

pm: 5 feeling great

am: 5

pm: 9 on the ridge with 1500ft elevation gain. It was tough but i did it.

am: 5 felt surprisingly good given i did the ridge last night

pm: 5

am: 5 bit slow, was dehydrated i think. drank 1.5 liters of water after my run lol

pm: 5. slow again this time because i was a bit drunk from an office party lol

am: 5 feeling good

pm: 5 kinda fast

am: 7 on trails with probably 1500ft vertical. Very hilly.

pm: 6

am: didnt feel like running, want to keep running fun so i didnt run

pm: 5

am: 5